H/W Underpowered cons and cons...?

[psyko12]

I have my new rig now and was planning on giving away my last rig to my sister (specs on system specs <----). But lately have discovered that the psu is really unstable when it comes to voltages providing to the attached items.

+12v plays around 11.70 -- > 12.20+
+3.3v " " 2.97 -- > 3.40+

So far that's what only speed fan reads so I went into bios and see's almost the same readings the voltages aren't constant they change at a slight or noticeable margin.

Would running H/W underpowered or with non constant rating of v's harmful.

The psu is serving it's 5th year lol. No serious gaming was done here on this rig because I stopped playing games on the PC ever since I got hooked to Monster Hunter series.

 

[Phxprovost]

now while i have no formal training in the area, from what i understand a slight fluctuation such as that cant result in any noticeable damage in a given products life expectancy....or at least thats what ive come to believe

 

[psyko12]

Thanks but it's better to have a psu which provides good constant voltage right?

 

[Phxprovost]

Thanks but it's better to have a psu which provides good constant voltage right?

well thats the goal, but is there such thing as a perfect psu? idk, im kinda curious about this now

 

[psyko12]

Heh me too, coz sometimes when the voltage goes down a drive goes haywire (turning on and off) causing bsod.

 

[Phxprovost]

Heh me too, coz sometimes when the voltage goes down a drive goes haywire (turning on and off) causing bsod.

haha well i guess theres the answer to the question right there

 

[W1zzard]

how do you measure those voltages? onboard sensors are useless, use a digital multimeter

+-10% for all voltages, and +-5% for 12v is perfectly within the specification

 

[psyko12]

Yup but it only happens rarely so I'm not really sure if 1. the psu is the main cause or 2. The drive, even though SMART doesn't report anything wrong is dying on me. Lol

 

[psyko12]

how do you measure those voltages? onboard sensors are useless, use a digital multimeter

+-10% for all voltages, and +-5% for 12v is perfectly within the specification

Thanks W1z. Well am only using bios and speed fan to log/check these voltages... The graph for 3.3v and 12v goes down (eg. 2.90+/11.70+ ) when running OCCT psu/mixed test or plainly playing WC3 .

 

[HookeyStreet]

Heh me too, coz sometimes when the voltage goes down a drive goes haywire (turning on and off) causing bsod.

Blimey! If your getting problems like that its new PSU time

 

[psyko12]

Well still debating if it's the HDD is crapping out or the 5 year old psu lol. Gonna have to test the hdd on another machine tomorrow and see if it's the HDD if not new psu xD

 

[overclocking101]

I would do as w1zz suggested and use a multimeter programs are usually useless for thisng like this